SEOUL (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): In a gesture of goodwill years ago, when the Philippines was boosting its weak naval defence capabilities amid territorial disputes in the South China Sea, South Korea made the decision to donate a soon-to-retire corvette warship to the country.
The deal involves the delivery of a squadron of 18 single-seat aircraft along with eight twin-seat variants that is collectively estimated to be valued at $4.5-6bn. Boeing’s F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet complies with most of the critical mission-specific requirements, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.